This paper was presented at the 2008 Engineering Conference - Innovation Good Practice and Research in Engineering Education.
Today’s global society generates ‘wicked’ problems; problems that are messy intricate untidy and difficult. Engineers are constantly faced with such problems. A creative approach to problem identification and problem solving is required for effective engineering design to tackle these ‘wicked’ design scenarios.
An innovative activelearning strategy aimed at promoting the evolution of engineering students’ design skills was first implemented at The University of Manchester in 2002. The approach was processoriented rather than taskoriented and was based on seven interactive sessions each of which dealt with an aspect of the design process. To date students from disciplines including Civil Engineering Construction Management and Materials Science have successfully undertaken this unit. There has been a positive student response from all groups with students recognising the need for a different approach.
Recognising that engineers work in multidisciplinary environments a second generation of sessions has been developed with the intention of offering a wider range of students’ access to this module. The updated module has an improved framework which includes revised coursework and more detailed feedback. This is delivered as a ten credit module entitled “Realworld problemsolving” over a twelve week period which includes both individual and group coursework a reflective report and oral and poster presentations.
This paper describes the rationale behind the development of the original and revised module. The primary aim of the module is to provide students with the problemsolving skills they will need as future practitioners working in cross-disciplinary teams.
